Chapter 202

Liam’s POV

“Chuck,” I said, recognizing the news media owner who I had called a couple of days ago, practically begging him to keep the engagement party a secret.

I hadn’t even considered that he might be here, in this restaurant, seeing me out on what appeared to be a date with someone other than who I was supposed to be getting engaged to.

When Aria had asked me out to this dinner, I had been so distracted by my relief and joy that I had not considered the possible consequences at all.

I hated this, feeling like I was living some kind of triple life. I wanted to just be with Aria and that was it. Now, I was juggling too many balls in the air. There were too many dynamics to keep track of, who knew what about who. I was starting to lose track.

Aria seemed more confused than alarmed, thank God, but I didn’t want to wait around to see if things would click in her mind, especially if Chuck revealed even more than he already had.

“Let’s speak privately,” I said at once, standing.

“Liam?” Aria asked, her eyes filling with concern.

“It’s nothing, Aria. I’ll be right back.”

She stayed put, even as Chuck began to laugh.

“Sure,” he said. “Whatever you want, Romeo.”

I followed Chuck all the way to the foyer by the hostess station. Fortunately, this restaurant, while busy, did not take many walk-ins. Most people arrived with reservations and were seated immediately. Therefore, the waiting area was empty.

The hostess knew to practice discretion and immediately gave us the space Chuck and I needed for a private chat.

Chuck continued to laugh. “You should see your face. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I didn’t know how to begin to explain. Should I lie about who Aria was and what she meant to me? My brain hurt and my stomach was all twisted up in knots. Everything could fall apart in an instant. At this rate, my carefully laid plans wouldn’t last through the night, let alone all the way to Sunday.

“Hey, breathe, Liam.” Chuck’s laughter slowly dwindled. Placing his hand on my shoulder again, he shook me much gentler this time, as if offering support more than mockery now. “This isn’t a big deal.”

Looking at him, I tried to gauge the truthfulness in that statement. “It isn’t?”

“No,” Chuck said.

“That wasn’t Joanna,” I said.

“No, it wasn’t,” Chuck said. “I don’t know who that was, and I don’t want to know. She’s very pretty. You have good taste –”

“But –”

“Don’t talk yourself into more trouble,” Chuck said, cutting me off.

He was right. The guilt and the weight of the lies was piling up on me so much, so fast, I was ready to fall onto any sword that presented itself at this point. I needed to hold it together. Nothing was broken – yet. I could still salvage this.

“Listen, Liam. Every man in high society has mistresses. That’s just how things are done. Even I have a thing or two on the side.” He shrugged. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. At least, not among us men. The women folk don’t take to it as kindly as we do.”

Fresh disgust started to churn in my stomach for an entirely different reason now. I had no intention of taking any mistresses. Aria was my wife, and the only woman I wanted romantically or sexually. She was my best friend and anchor, the person I needed beside me for the rest of my life.

To even consider having someone else…

But that was what I was doing, wasn’t it? Even if it was just for pretend.

I could judge Chuck, my father, and the other high society men all I wanted, but in this moment, I was just like them, juggling multiple women, trying to keep them both secret from each other. Well, keep Aria secret, anyway. I didn’t care about Joanna.

Yet, as distasteful as Chuck’s attitude was, it was the very thing that was helping me to keep things secret now. Aria wasn’t my mistress, she was my wife, but no one knew that besides us and a handful of others.

To Chuck, I truly was just out on a date with my mistress.

“A word of advice, though, especially so close to your engagement party,” Chuck said. “Keep the mistresses at home for a while. You’re lucky just me and the boys saw you out here tonight. If my wife had seen, she’d be on the phone with Joanna in a minute.”

I lowered my head to hide my shame. This was not the type of association that I wanted, though I knew, by keeping so many secrets, I had brought this on myself.

At least, even if it meant being humiliated in front of Chuck, I could keep Aria in the dark for now.

“Thanks,” I said, barely containing my disgust. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good man.” Chuck laughed again. “Good luck with Joanna. She’s going to be a handful.”

“Yes,” I said. “I know.”

Aria’s POV

I wanted to give Liam the benefit of the doubt but something about the interaction with this man – Chuck – had me unsettled.

Perhaps it was the brazen way he had approached our table and laughed with Liam, as if they were both in on some joke that I was not privy too. Or maybe it was the way Liam had paled so fiercely upon seeing his acquaintance, as if he might have fainted right there at the table.

The off-feeling remained inside of me, keeping me on edge, even as Liam finally returned from the entryway alone and rejoined me at the table. Chuck was nowhere to be found.

“Who was that?” I asked. I didn’t want to be an interrogator, so I tried to keep my voice level and nonchalant. Inside, however, my suspicions were beginning to arise again. “Someone you know?”

“An acquaintance,” Liam said. “He’s the owner of the channel 4 news. We used to hang in the same circles.”

As Liam spoke, he couldn’t quite look me in the eye.

“What was he talking about, when he came over here?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s just some inside joke,” Liam said, as he tugged on his sleeve.

I froze. Even my heart seemed to still for a moment. I couldn’t breathe.

In recent weeks, I had noticed Liam had become more nervous than usual. This had led to my revelation of his tells. Every time he lied to me, he would pull on the cuff of his sleeve.

This interaction, though it had left me feeling unsettled, should have been innocuous. There had to be a perfectly simple explanation for the way Chuck laughed at Liam and the things he had said.

Yet, for Liam to lie about it hinted that there was something much deeper going on. Something that everyone else seemed to know about and I didn’t.

I wanted to believe in Liam. I trusted him. Or at least, I wanted to.

But here, he was clearly lying to me.

Was it about the planned engagement?

My heart sank.

Maybe there was more going on than Isabelle and I had reasoned out.

Why else would he lie about this?